What Is the Best Hub - Sprocket Solution for 5-7 Speed Freewheel Bikes

So the potholes of Pittsburgh finally got to my bike. The hub of my rear wheel seems to have given out. I knew I'd have to get a new wheel/sprocket setup soon enough, but now my hand is forced. The bike is a Schwinn collegiate with a five speed freewheel.

So I'm wondering what you guys think are the best solutions out there for a 5-7 speed freewheel setup? I want to run a 44 as my drive sprocket, preferably one of the nicely machined ones made by craftsmen on this site. But I want to keep a multispeed setup for this bike so I can shut the motor off and bike it on trails in the city. The hub that broke was an original schwinn hub, with a screw on five speed sprocket with derailleur.

Is there a nice hub that is recommended that also works with one of the great sprocket adapters out there? It seems that the adapters ability to adjust the alignment of the drive gear is an advantage even over the HD hubs.

Has anyone had success with the multi speed grubee hd hub? I've never found anyone selling them.

Staton looks like they may have something that would work with the china girl, but I haven't been able to get ahold of someone to confirm this. It is left and right threaded for the drive gear. Axle Mount Robin Subaru kit EH035 33.5 cc 24 oz tank with Complete 26” Wheel

A flip flop with fixed gear and lock ring looks like it could work even though its threaded the other way, but none of the vendors seem to sell a sprocket that threads on.

Should I switch to an internal geared hub that would fit one of the existing sprocket adapters? They are pricey though aren't they?

I'd love to leave the rag joint far behind with my next wheel.

Thanks all!

Staton guy got back to me. He said they do have hubs that are properly threaded for a drive sprocket on the left side. I'm going to try to get some prices. The sprockets aren't much to look at, maybe someone could build some sprockets for these hubs.

I really like the manic Adapter from pirate,but it was to big.
you can have a machinest make somthing like what i had done .......so far its worked great.

What kind of freewheel hub (thread on, cassette) do you have? Did it come with your bike, or is it after market?

I bought an Electra 7D.
I placed the Hub attachment from pirate on my stock "come with bike hub"

my stock hub was too small,Im new to this so i just ordered the smallest they had hoping it would fit.

Looks like the machinist did good work. Where does one find a guy like that? Did you just take it in and show him the bike? Where the costs reasonable?

The staton thing looks good for being functional out of the box. Not that pretty though. I was hoping between the manic adapter and the new Sportscarpat adapter, someone could make something that was plug and play without too much custom work.

I took it to a shop in my town brought the rim and adapter to them said they could do it for 20.00 Bucks.

The shop specialized in refurbishing production line equipment for food/dairy service.
Was quite thrilled actually to do it and impressed with the whole adapter idea in general.

Here's an idea if you feel like a little work. I used a Shimano hub, built in free wheel with the spline that will accept any speed casset. I'm using a seven speed (Shimano CS-HG50-7) This is a disc brake hub and I use the disc rotor mounting for my drive sprocket. This requires some careful drilling and grinding to make the sprocket fit the hub but after its mounted it is a sweet setup. No wobble and no rag joint spoke sandwich and no clamped on hub adapter.
Tom

Atomicdog said:

I really like the manic Adapter from pirate,but it was to big.
you can have a machinest make somthing like what i had done .......so far its worked great.

Click to expand...

I did the same thing...ordered the adapter then I changed my mind on bicycle and got the 7 sp. and when everything arrived, I found out that the hub was too small... I did think of doing this though. Does it just act as a shim or is it pinned somehow to the adapter?

Took a closer look and answered my own question...

So is there a definitive answer? Maybe we could get an address of the machinist that did the one for 20$?